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Hero Restoration, Anyone know the latest?
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Started by Cantina201,

1,383 posts in this topic

Cnight

Cnight

Posted
Posted
On 12/15/2023 at 5:04 PM, Sauce Dog said:

Okay...this next update is going to be a doozy. I have spoken directly with a few people who have confirmed some horrible news, these are very reliable contacts that are close to the situation and want their names to remain out of this for now (but continue to help and are also monitoring the boards).

It looks like there is a good chance Mike has been selling customer books. 

Just over a month ago when his girlfriend kicked him out he opened up a store front in downtown Corvallis called Cool Stuff (name might be a little longer though, waiting on the full exact business name and address). He moved all his personal belongings into that shop and has been selling all sorts of things out of it (no online presence is known though). It is unknown however how far back the selling goes (or exactly which books), we know about the store front but it is possible books were gone before it got to this point. He has however failed to pay rent on it and it is at risk of being evicted - the landlord however cannot release the contents of it to others not on the lease (which makes sense, they don't know who really owns what). We are unsure of how to proceed as he isn't getting out of jail anytime soon. I will be speaking with the sheriffs next week and perhaps something will come of that. If this info had came from any other source other than where I got it from I would be very skeptical - but in this case I believe it is legit due to his desperation (maybe he opened up a shop to sell his own comics, it's possible, but considering how downhill this has gone and how hard up for money he was I'm going to lean towards it not being fully legit). To be clear: Signs point to this being the case, and the sources were VERY good, but until it is 100% confirmed please take this with a grain of salt.

He no longer has any cell phones, so there isn't any value in trying to reach him that way (so no sense bugging the new owner of the numbers). The only way to reach him is obviously through the sheriffs office where it is expected he will remain in jail until his trial in January. His previous lawyers have all quit on him due to non-payment, so I can't see any of them coming to his rescue at this point.

There is more, but this is the biggie. Will keep everyone updated with what else I find. At this point we need someone nearby to take actual legal action...I am a lone far off Canadian that can't do much else.





 

So this definitely has money, with some of it being from customers he robbed.

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DougC

DougC

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 12/15/2023 at 8:17 PM, mattn792 said:

Is anyone else upset about his ex-girlfriend's lack of understanding?

:violin:

 

I do not know who she is but I am happy that she got out of the situation and is no doubt much better off for it.

 

Edited by DougC
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Sauce Dog

Sauce Dog

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Posted (edited)
On 12/15/2023 at 8:50 PM, thehumantorch said:

I would think a storefront would not be a good place to sell high value comic books  Perhaps anyone who sent books to him should also watch the usual auction sites.

It might also make sense to create a list of all missing books so the various board detectives can look for them.

Yeah, that is the only part of the info which is an issue to me, we know comics were sold out of the place where he moved all the customers books into...but I want to confirm that included client books 100%. I'm waiting if any specific books can be pointed to by my contacts. I assume he has some of his own books to sell, so I'm not jumping to conclusions just yet.

While I do not like spreading anything I have not 100% confirmed (I am not saying for certain he has sold customer books), due to where this claim was coming from I felt it best to just pass along what I've been told right away in case anyone was sitting on the fence regarding legal action.

The main concern is the fact the contents of the store, which amounts to everything Mike owns as well as all customer property submitted to Hero Restoration, is potentially in jeopardy due to the unpaid rent and Mike being stuck in jail for however long that takes - the landlord has zero interest or obligation to get involved.

 

Edited by Sauce Dog
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CAHokie

CAHokie

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Posted

Could you imagine a nightmare scenario of the books being thrown into cardboard boxes like old newspapers or worse thrown out.  Imagine the eyes of a collector that got all of these comics in a storage clean-out sale for a few dollars.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-eviction-process-oregon-rules-landlords-property-manager.html

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CAHokie

CAHokie

Posted
Posted
On 12/15/2023 at 9:25 PM, Sauce Dog said:

we know comics were sold out of the place where he moved all the customers books into...but I want to confirm that included client books 100%

I would like to think that despite all of his bad decisions he knew not to cross that line.
 

However he did have a theft loss before right? Didn't someone say a book they never actually sent was on the insurance claim? Im sure it was a mistake and removed from the claim after discovering it….right? 

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Sauce Dog

Sauce Dog

Posted
Posted
On 12/15/2023 at 9:31 PM, CAHokie said:

Could you imagine a nightmare scenario of the books being thrown into cardboard boxes like old newspapers or worse thrown out.  Imagine the eyes of a collector that got all of these comics in a storage clean-out sale for a few dollars.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/the-eviction-process-oregon-rules-landlords-property-manager.html

Okay, good news I guess

 

Quote

Even after a landlord wins an eviction lawsuit against a tenant, the landlord is not authorized to remove the tenant from the rental unit. Only a law enforcement officer with a court order can do that.

Tenants sometimes leave personal property behind at the rental unit after an eviction has occurred. If this happens, Oregon law requires the landlord to store the property in a safe location and then send a written notice to the tenant. This notice must inform the tenant of the property the tenant left behind and that the tenant has 30 days to claim the property. If the tenant does not claim the property within 30 days, then the landlord can dispose of it. The landlord can also charge the tenant for the costs of storing the property. (Ore. Rev. Stat. § 90.425.)

That means at the very least the contents are safe for 30 days + plus however many days it takes for the eviction notices to be sent and a full eviction lawsuit happens. 

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DougC

DougC

Posted
Posted
On 12/15/2023 at 8:27 PM, Sauce Dog said:

@DougC any legal advice on what happens with a property being evicted and the contents (especially if it is a business and other customer property is inside)? 

That is well outside of my previous purview but I would assume it varies state-to-state based on property rights. Talking completely out of my butt here; generally the landlord tentatively becomes the owner of the unclaimed property abandoned in their building to do with as they please. I would recommend having a lawyer draft a letter to the landlord emphasizing that all property be kept secure due to pending litigation, but I do not know how Oregon law works in this situation.

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VintageComics

VintageComics

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Posted
On 12/15/2023 at 8:34 PM, Pinch said:

Well... I live about 20 minutes out of Corvallis in the sticks, if someone can shoot me the address I could go and have a look see. I could not find a business on a google search.

As anyone who has followed the hobby for a while knows, Eugene, OR was a hotbed of bad comic activity for many years and so I hope the usual suspects have not gotten involved as this would make customer's books easy pickings for this sort of thing. 

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Number 6

Number 6

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On 12/15/2023 at 9:46 AM, wombat said:

I know it doesn't help anyone get their money or books back, but the thought of him sitting in jail is nice. 

Hopefully the state doesn’t put him to work making license plates while he’s in prison. 
 

It will take him 10 years to crank out one plate. 

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Pinch

Pinch

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On 12/15/2023 at 6:44 PM, VintageComics said:

As anyone who has followed the hobby for a while knows, Eugene, OR was a hotbed of bad comic activity for many years and so I hope the usual suspects have not gotten involved as this would make customer's books easy pickings for this sort of thing. 

No shady stuff here man. Just live close by and offering to drop by and see if the store even exists. 

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VintageComics

VintageComics

Posted
Posted
On 12/15/2023 at 9:56 PM, Pinch said:

No shady stuff here man. Just live close by and offering to drop by and see if the store even exists. 

My apologies if there was a misunderstanding.

I didn't mean you at all.

Eugene in particular just has a long history of bad behavior around comic books for some reason.

I think everyone appreciates your efforts to help.

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Pinch

Pinch

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On 12/15/2023 at 10:30 PM, VintageComics said:

My apologies if there was a misunderstanding.

I didn't mean you at all.

Eugene in particular just has a long history of bad behavior around comic books for some reason.

I think everyone appreciates your efforts to help.

Well it is the home of PGX so :). Seriously though, if someone sends me an address I will take a pic of the place and send it to them. This guy is not a having a series of bad events beyond his control, he is a criminal. The charges he is facing are fairly serious, it is Oregon though, so they will most likely not do a whole lot to him. The real crime here is how he runs his business. 

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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

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On 12/16/2023 at 12:04 AM, Pinch said:

This guy is not a having a series of bad events beyond his control, he is a criminal.

I think this pretty much sums it up.

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boreds

boreds

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Posted

Only 15 counts of contempt of court. Mike seems like a real sweetheart!

https://www.lebanonlocalnews.com/sweet-home-police-court-updates-nov-27-to-dec-4-2023/

 

Quote

5:52 p.m – Michael De Chellis, was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, failure to perform duties of a driver, giving false info, failure to carry and present, and fifteen counts of contempt of court.

 

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